Southern California -- this just in

Calabasas High students say they were ‘mistreated,’ leading them to scrawl racist graffiti

April 27, 2011 | 10:48
am

Three Calabasas High School students told investigators they scrawled racist graffiti on campus because they felt they had been "mistreated during the school year," Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department officials said Wednesday.

The teenage boys told detectives they did not intend to target a specific ethnicity or religion in their Saturday morning vandalism spree, which included anti-Semitic and racist graffiti, sheriff's officials said.

The graffiti included profanity directed at specific students and teachers who had upset them, the officials said.

"Based on the statements of the subjects and the content of their graffiti vandalism, their intent was to upset the people they felt had wronged them, rather than a criminal hate crime," Sheriff's Capt. Mike Parker said in a statement. "They showed their frustration by spray painting extremely offensive words and symbols throughout the school grounds."

Two of the three boys were being booked for felony vandalism and a third was expected to be arrested Wednesday, officials said. They said they would seek to criminally prosecute the boys and have them reimburse the school for damages.

The boys have expressed remorse for their actions, Parker said.

"The hurt that this has caused to the students, teachers and community is much worse than the approximately $2,000 in damage to the school grounds," he said.